How much sugar are you feeding your horse?

At Equine Affaire Massachusetts 2018, Dr. Lydia Gray, SmartPak Staff Veterinarian and Medical Director, gave a presentation on the sugar content in various types of horse feeds. In this video, she has some audience members try to match up the feed to it's corresponding amount of sugar in a daily serving, creates a human sugar/carbohydrate flow chart, answers audience questions, and more!
She also gave a presentation on What to have in your equine first aid kit and what to leave out - see that presentation here: • What to have in your e...
To see more from Dr. Gray, check her out in SmartPak’s Ask the Vet video series where you could get your horse health question answered AND win a SmartPak gift card!: • Ask the Vet monthly vi...

[@kippen64]

If sugar beet can be fed dry, why do the feed companies who sell it, tell you that you must soak it?

[@sambur6480]

Because it’s best when soaked. Horses natural eat foods flush with fluids. Most all animals do, which is why dogs thrive on raw food diets. Diets fortified with water are often referred to as “ species appropriate.” Hay is best if soaked and so is beat pulp, but both can be fed dry.

[@Birddog1227Blogspot]

....Soooo it would be best? To Allow my 24/7 Turnouts to get their SPsupplements and small grain at dusk/evening to slow their grazing thus minimize the intake of higher fructans at this time of the 24 hour day? Thanks in advance!!🐴🐴

[@smartpak]

Thanks for watching! For your first question, I doubt that taking a break from grazing for the few minutes necessary to eat “dinner” is going to have much of an impact on their grazing time. If you’re concerned about the high levels of sugars and starches in afternoon grass, it would be better to pull them from pasture and either put in stalls or a dry lot with hay. Also, grazing muzzles will slow grass intake. - Dr. Lydia Gray

[@Birddog1227Blogspot]

I have not been a beet pulp user... what should I look for to indicate “Bad or Spoiled” Beet Pulp? Thanks I enjoyed this video very much Dr Lydia!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@smartpak]

Hi there! To answer your second question, the nose knows! If the soaked beet pulp smells bad to you, it has probably gone bad (rancid) and will smell and taste bad to your horse so throw it out. I’ve learned that, while you can soak beet pulp for a long time in the fall, winter, and spring, in the high temperatures of summer it doesn’t take very long for it to spoil. - Dr. Lydia Gray

[@dressagegirl13]

You started to answer why steaming hay is not good, but then never completed the answer. Would you explain the pros/cons of steaming vs soaking?

[@smartpak]

Hi Kate - Great question! It's not that steaming hay is 'bad,' but it is not an effective method for reducing the sugar and starch content in the hay, which was the focus of that session. The best way to do that is through soaking the hay (30 mins in hot water or 60 mins in cold water) and then draining. Hay steaming is a method of treating hay to reduce the airborne respirable dust which naturally occur in hay, aggravating horses with respiratory issues. This is a very useful management tool if you have a horse with seasonal allergies or an airway disease, but will not significantly reduce Non-Structural Carbohydrate content if the horse is sugar sensitive. - Dr. Lydia Gray